In August 2013 their main recruiter contacted my via LinkedIn and kindly asked if I would be interested to connect with him and if I might be interested in some deeper context of Riot’s doing in the EU. At this point I could only guess that he was a recruiter.
Upon accepting, he sent me more info about the company and explained the core values of Riot to me, supplemented with press articles. What really struck to me was the tone and choice of words he was using. It was absolutely refreshing and not the usual recruiter self-adulation. In the same email he asked me if I would be interested in meeting him during GDC /GamesCom in Cologne and I gladly accepted. A few days prior to GamesCom he invited me to a cocktail party in the same week of GamesCom.
We met on the first day of GDC in Café in Cologne for about 1.5 hours and he gave me a more information with focus on how they value their customer and employees. It slowly turned into a Q&A session about me and my experience. The questions were less focused on experience but more on my values, character traits, thoughts and what I am looking for. What was really surprising that he seemed to know a lot about me, even though I never submitted a CV.
A day later I went to the cocktail party which was less a party but more an intimate gathering of some Riot people and friends. I have been friendly welcomed right at the beginning and people knew that I was coming and not pretending it. They made sure that I talked to a lot Rioters. I also met the first time the Managing Director. He asked me a lot about my background and then he openly spoke about their need and where they would need help.
After this night I got really excited and waited eagerly hearing back from them. A day after the party the recruiter wrote me that they would like continue the discussion after my holiday, which I planned to do after GamesCom. Only a week later after GamesCom their recruiting coordinator contacted and invited me to Dublin for an onsite-interview as soon as possible. As I was still on holiday we had to postpone my visit and scheduled it finally for October.
Riot offered to me to extend my stay for two more days to give me a fair chance for experiencing Dublin which I also gladly accepted. On the day of my interview I met their Localization Manager, Community Manager, Player Support Manager, Project Manager, Finance Director and Managing Director. Each asked me context and situational questions. Their focus was more on how I do things and why I would do them that way. Everyone who I met on the cocktail party remembered me and what we discussed. Overall this was a very pleasant experience and everyone was nice and, as before, everyone came prepared to the meeting with their specific questions.
About a week later they wrote me that the interview day went well and scheduled a Skype call with their VP of People from their Santa Monica office. Two weeks later we had the call and we went through a similar set of questions. As with the previous talks it was a very pleasant conversation.
